W-band SiGe LNA using unilateral gain peaking

Abstract

A 91 GHz low-noise amplifier (LNA) using a unilateral gain peaking design technique is presented. Parasitic capacitances from the layout of transistors are exploited in order to frequency shift the peak of Mason’s Unilateral Gain. This methodology enhances amplifier gain performance tremendously without additional power consumption or penalty in Noise Figure. The LNA was developed in IBM’s 8HP 0.12 μm, 200 GHz fT, SiGe technology. The measured results demonstrate a peak gain of 13 dB, an IIP3 of −5.4dBm, a Noise Figure of 5.1 dB with DC power consumption of only 8.1 mW at 91 GHz. The amplifier exhibits a 3-dB Gain Bandwidth of 16 GHz from 84 – 100 GHz with a minimum Gain of 10 dB and an average NF of only 5.5 dB. This device has the highest known reported figure of merit (28.9) for a silicon based W-Band LNA.